So far this year, legislators in at least 16 states have introduced bills designed to rein in protesters--by, for example, banning the use of masks during protests or by indemnifying drivers who strike activists with their cars.

Laws like this jeopardize free speech, needless to say. But they also tend to mutate over time, serving new and unintended purposes long after the protesters they were meant to control have started collecting Social Security. We know this because we have followed this playbook before, almost to the letter.

“Let it be said at once: Trump’s victory is primarily due to the explosion in economic and territorial inequality in the United States over several decades and the incapacity of successive governments to deal with these.” – Thomas Piketty, economist and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in Le Monde on Nov. 15, 2016